NUR-SULTAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) SULTAN, July 14 (Sputnik) - The authorities of Kazakhstan have decided to extend the nationwide coronavirus-related quarantine until August 2 as part of efforts to stabilize the epidemiological situation in the country, Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin said on Tuesday.
On July 5, Kazakhstan introduced a two-week quarantine amid a surge in coronavirus cases with a possibility of its extension. On Monday, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that the existing quarantine restrictions would be extended until the end of July.
"The second week of strict restrictive quarantine measures is underway. The infection rate is stabilizing. At the recommendation of the Health Ministry and in order to further stabilize the epidemiological situation, we have decided to extend the restrictive measures in the republic for another two weeks from July 20 to August 2," Mamin said at a government meeting.
Last week, the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan warned its citizens about an outbreak of an unknown type of pneumonia with a higher mortality rate than COVID-19 spreading in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh Ministry of Health has denied the information about an outbreak of a new unknown pneumonia, while a WHO spokesman suggested that one of the explanations for the outbreak of pneumonia is COVID-19.
According to Caroline Clarinval, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kazakhstan, a group of WHO experts will son arrive in the Central Asian nation to study the spike in new pneumonia cases in the country. The WHO official also believes that it is still to early to draw some conclusions about the new type of pneumonia.
Kazakhstan has so far confirmed 61,755 cases of COVID-19 and nearly 400 fatalities.
